An unabashedly
self-christened 'Kings of Kings' woefully fell short of living up to their
claim as CUCC ensured that the handful of their well-wishers
following their fortunes from outside the boundary got a microcosmic glimpse
into the season that was for CUCC. Needless to say, most of the major
architects of the team's landscape over the past five months were there to
revel in the conquest, even if that meant not being able to play in the
eleven for some - well one.

Lakshmanan once again reminded us why the
captain never flip-flops on who calls the flip of the coin for his team.
What has been suggested, implored, and more recently demanded by Venu was
finally honored by his wards in the penultimate match of the league season
as all members of the team showed up ready to dirty their whites by 11:15
AM. Commendable as that was in itself, it didn't matter much in the context
of this match as the lack of hosting duties meant that they were left to
loiter around and even practice their batting skills under the luxurious
circumstances of having the choice of dedicated bowlers and bowling styles
to hone their skills against - what with their opposition not
appearing until 12:30PM. The solitary league umpire appointed for the match
reached at quarter to one amidst speculations regarding the presence of
ringers among the 'Kings'. By the time Gokul and Siva took their guard and
Siva faced the first ball of the CUCC innings, proceedings had well entered
the second hour after noon. A showerhead of a sun poured its dampened rays
down on VCP4 soon drenching much of the populace that stood under it.
Scoring did not appear to be as much of a priority for the openers as did
preserving their wickets during the first few overs. The opening bowlers had
much to do with this as Findley, especially, moved the ball in the air and
off the pitch at will. One such ball, while escaping contact with Siva's
bat, hit him on and in line with leg and was duly adjudged as having been
prevented from hitting the stump by the umpire. Gokul and Kaustubh got
together and looked determined to repeat their heroics from the
quarter-final match. Soon thereafter, Gokul played an atrocious shot while
self-admittedly attempting to change Findley's line of choice that had been
curtailing his hitherto free stroke play.
This brought Michael and Kaustubh in the second-most productive partnership
of the innings. That it was only worth thirty three runs exposes one of the
many 'shortcomings'
of the day for CUCC. It ended with Kaustubh, having sweetly timed a couple
of boundaries previously, backing himself to do so once more. To his
astonishment, he only managed to accomplish the first part of the task as he
perfectly timed the ball into the hands of a grateful sweeper. Michael
perished to a more ambitious shot as he attempted to test his timing but
landed the ball into mid off's accepting palms. Another start had been
squandered. Sunil started with his typical stroke play
but fell typically as well - LBW, trying to play across the line. Lakshmanan
and Venu troubled the scorers inasmuch as not giving them enough time to
record their dismissals. Vishnu's run out all but put an end to any CUCC
hopes of recovery to a solid score, while Madhura's departure to a
controversial caught behind decision meant that CUCC's scorecard cried
mayhem. Kings' slow bowlers, Baker and Parnell had distributed the CUCC
middle and lower order among themselves to end with four and two wickets
respectively. Dileep and Prabhu
got together for the last wicket at 103/9 with almost eight overs remaining.
The pair played more sensibly that any of its predecessors and put on the
highest stand of what turned out to be thirty eight extremely vital runs in
the context of the match. Though the Kings' had bulldogged CUCC for the
majority of the first innings, the first signs of that familiar resistance
came in the form of this stand. Soon they were running out of gas, overs,
and ideas as Dileep flogged the bowling around the park a few times before
he also ran out of a partner who was, well, run out! CUCC mustered a measly
hundred and forty one.

As the team got together for a brief
interval between innings, they reminded each other, through what Michael
maintains were clichés
that ricocheted off his own pachyderm
persona, of how cricket has its way of reflecting life's own uncertainty.
They resolved to not let all the guts and glory of the season be wiped away
from their collective memory and refused to be daunted by the prospect of
having to fell the ten Kings. It was no surprise then that all eleven
players were on the field well before the umpire could be sighted. With the
other brilliant "sun" of the day showering his own rays of warm
generosity wrapped in the humidity of team spirit on CUCC, the XI took
the field with the security of "safety in numbers" - in more ways
than one. What followed over the next two hours was inspirational at worst
and miraculous at best. The Kings opened with a left-right combination of
Parnell and Lawson, mirroring Venu's own approach to his opening bowlers in
Dileep and Madhura. Dileep started in his usual parsimonious vein, but
Madhura's first over yielded two boundaries. Venu quickly replaced Madhura
with Sunil from the southern end. Dileep looked like breaking the
partnership any minute and Sunil, his own shoulder. Both kept their team's
hopes alive by drying up the runs, but the key commodity of the afternoon
was wickets and CUCC had not started dealing in it ... yet. The seemingly
set Lawson, brawny yet straight-batted, was sent back to the hut prematurely
by a sneaky display of stumping by Gokul. A Dileep delivery that he missed
down the leg side was collected by Gokul - who was standing back - and
rolled back onto the stumps to catch the batsman unawares and out of
his crease in his attempt to negate the swing. 13/1. Sunil's mini spell was
far more threatening than 4-0-15-0. Lakshmanan, who had been searching for
his ball-on-a-string line and length most of the season had shown signs of
having rediscovered it in the quarter finals. He kept that promise after
quickly reversing a shaky eleven-run first over with progressively tighter
efforts. #3, Anderson, and Parnell seemed intent upon playing percentage
cricket, seemingly well aware of the fact that their required run rate of
less than four per over could hardly prove dangerous under said game plan.
In the meanwhile Dileep's valiant efforts yielded little more than futile
appeals. He ended with another stupendous statistic of 7-2-12-1. Drinks were
taken at 54/1 in fifteen overs. The captain, in his unabated pursuit of the
Kings' ten heads, brought himself on, after much prodding from his wicket
keeper. The move almost paid off in his first two overs when he first
trapped Parnell plumb in front of the stumps and then had Anderson caught
behind, only to find his appeals dismissed. A resolute Venu came back to do
it all by himself as he pegged Anderson's leg-stump back in the fourth ball
of his second. 63/2 in seventeen. A developing partnership had been nipped.
Baker barely stayed for a third of a dozen deliveries as he was sent back by
one of Lakshmanan's bread and butter deliveries - his priceless dipping
off-cutter - another cookie-cutter dismissal for the bowler
who had regained his form. Charlie Brown joined the pint-sized Parnell at
68/3. He left him in good grief soon thereafter after having edged one, that
straightened after pitching, straight into Gokul's waiting gloves. 79/4 in
twenty one. A mirage of victory had begun to appear to some of CUCC's
members. The resistant Parnell, armed with a solitary stroke, continued
along his agenda - expanding the already gaping desert between CUCC and
their oasis. It was then that Siva, quite the sandstorm when it comes to
fielding, lunged forward and to his left to grab onto an audaciously
attempted pull. An effort that most certainly galvanized the team into
believers. Parnell ended up top scoring in the entire match with what
started out as a regular, but soon turned into a fighting, innings of thirty
two. 88/5 in twenty two. Run rate on
par; enough wickets left. In walked one of the ringer Kings, Gooden who,
after a confident start, fell to a good 'un taken by Madhura at square-leg,
courtesy of a mistimed attempt at hoicking the freshly introduced Prabhu.
96/6 in twenty three. #7, Johnson, had showed signs of taking the game back,
with a fearsome start that included two boundaries, but had to back-pedal
with wickets falling at the other end. Kaustubh had taken charge of the
southern end after Lakshmanan's 7-0-38-2 had done its part. As #8, Roberts,
and Johnson began calming their own nerves, they managed to have quite the
opposite effect on their opponents'. The two took their score, run by
deliberate run, closer to CUCC's doom. But the trickle that was the scoring
rate meant that the Kings had moved from ninety six to a hundred and nine in
four overs. While still sufficiently paced, it had somehow managed to bore
the arithmetic and logic out of Robert's head, who decided that a skier over
the longest boundary of the ground from a good length, slightly held back
Kaustubh delivery was absolutely essential to secure his team's berth in the
finals. The resultant catch by Madhura at mid on only secured the birth of a
mini collapse as Findley soon followed him back to the pavilion, stumped off
Prabhu.
110/8 in twenty seven. Kaustubh plugged the flow of runs at one end while Prabhu
screwed the bolts on from the other. The mirage was succumbing to reality.
Victory had to be certain for CUCC. #10 Beckford had other plans. He was
determined to enable his well-set partner knock off the thirty two runs
needed from the next eight overs. Thus ensued the last of the uneasy phases
for CUCC as the score was dragged to 133/8. Proceedings were not made any
more tolerable for CUCC by a catch dropped at mid off by Dileep that would
have switched off the life support of a partnership that was keeping the
Kings alive. A few more runs came in a hurry from Prabhu's
over via misfields and over-throws - unaffordable errors even on a
good day. Kaustubh's effectiveness in constricting the scoring would not
suffice. As Venu was contemplating a change from that end, Kaustubh's
next over provided the vital breakthrough as Beckford got the dreaded
finger. 133/9. The Prabhu-Gokul
combination conspired one last time to end Johnson's march, who abandoned
caution for desperation. Prabhu's
wily wrists had flummoxed the West Indian batsmen even before they reached
the crease and CUCC's determined bunch of cricketers had managed to take
defeat hostage and extort victory yet again. This particular roller coaster
had been operated by the eleven men on the field but also monitored to
safety by the twelfth, and probably most important, man, Suraj, off the
field. Suraj exemplified the team spirit CUCC has shown this season
when he called the captain at 11:00 AM and asked if he could play as the
12th man. He not only showed up with his whites on time, but also took care
of the scoring for CUCC which was quite important considering the untoward
incidents we had during the season, particularly with close games.

Even as this narrative winds down, yet
another team with many Indians and a theoretically strong batting line-up
failed at their purported strong suit. But they too defied conventional
logic to defend their well below par score against West Indian opponents in
a match played in yet another country that is by and large oblivious to the
charms of this wonderful sport causing one to wonder, albeit only
momentarily, how that could be. The eerie similarity doesn't end there as
the one man who turned that match for his team (on the field) turned out to
be yet another Indian turner (Prabhu) who stuck around with the bat before
coming back to take three wickets and seal the match for his team. Of
course, that victory was absolutely essential for his team's entry into
their finals as well, which, by the way, is also scheduled to be played on
24th September, 2006 !!